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A wide choice of topics covered from the dawn of history right up to present days . Many of these have a wider relevance than purely within the context of Strathearn . The author's viewpoint often is at variance with the accepted opinions espoused elsewhere eg The Jacobite Uprisings and The Reformation .

Yes – These Are Really Strathearn Names !

If one one Googles “
Gorthy” ,one comes up with
a clutch of obscurities who are in
all probability enthusiastic Facebookers
but
have without a doubt, little connection with the Strathearn place of that
name . You may of course be fortunate to hit the name “ Gorthy
Wood “ – now a Forestry Commission Scotland Wood , where one can amble, ad infinitum , and enjoy the pleasures of rural Perthshire . There is however a much
finite and exact meaning to that old word . Gorthy was a Barony of Strathearn and is very much steeped in the
history and story of our unique part of
Perthshire .

In the beginning of the 13th Century , then
Estate of Gorthy was owned by a Laird
who bore the Christian name of Tristram
and used as a surname ( when surnames were not common ) – the
designation of his lands – Gorthy- Tristram of Gorthy . Many of his successors in the same line for nearly 400 years after were christened Tristram – a name which is somewhat unusual in Scotland and which
might rightly be referred to as
antipodal to the Scottish tradition ! If we look back into the shadows of the past we might well be
able to ascertain whether this
name originated amongst long forgotten Gorthies or did it perhaps originate through the choice of the long
defunct Earls of Strathearn ?

I am somewhat obsessed
by that much ignored gem of Strathearn’s illustrious past – namely the
Abbey of Inchaffray . An institution
which was so relevant in establishing our proud heritage but
which was sadly raped by the
insensitivity of modern planners in cahoots
with blinkered or perhaps even devious
politicians . Tristram of Gorthy appears as a witness to certain Charters of
the Abbey . The Abbey was established
near his Castle and he was one of
the initial benefactors .The Charter I
refer to is undated but worthy of remembrance :

Let both the present
and future men know , that I , Tristram
have given and granted , and in this my writing , have confirmed to God and to
St John , the Apostle of Inchaffray ,
and to the canons who serve and shall
serve God at that place , one croft of my territory of Eddardoeneth , which
closely adjoins the pond of the mill house of Gorthy, toward the east .through
the same divisions which Prior Malise held in his life, in free and continual
gift , for the love of God, and the
salvation of my soul, to be kept by him,
and had and possessed from me and my heirs in freedom and quietness from all
secular service , or servile work . The following are witnesses : - Abraham ,
Chaplain of the Lord of Strathearn ,and Arthur, his son ; Isacher,Chaplain of
Fowlis , Lord Reginald , Canon of Strathearn, Henry and Tristram ; and William,
Tristram’s son; and Tebald ; Foglias , Christina , wife of Tristram , and his
daughter Anni; and many others .

This Charter was confirmed by Gilbert , Earl of Strathearn ,
prior to his death in 1223. A further
grant was made by Robert of Mefken ( Methven ) to the Abbot and Convent of
Inchaffray of “ two tofts and four acres
of land in Kenandhem, otherwise called Dolpatrick “ ( Dalpatrick?? )

Let me move on to the
present . Those of you who peruse
the ever bourgeoning Sunday supplements will, no
doubt have stumbled across a very literate journalist who goes
by the somewhat unusual forename or
Christian name of Ysenda .

Ysenda Maxtone Graham was born in 1962 and educated at The
King’s School, Canterbury and Girton College, Cambridge. She has written widely
for many newspapers and magazines, as features writer, book reviewer and
columnist. She is the author of The Church Hesitant: A Portrait of the Church
of England (published by Hodder & Stoughton); The Real Mrs Miniver
(published by John Murray) which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Biography of
the Year Award, 2002, and Mr Tibbits’s Catholic School, published by Slightly
Foxed Editions in 2011, described by Rupert Christiansen as ‘a small but
perfectly formed masterpiece’. This book sold out so quickly in its
limited-edition hardback that it came out six weeks later as the first-ever
Slightly Foxed paperback. She was a judge of the Whitbread Awards in 2003.She
lives in London with her husband Michael and their three sons Toby, Charles and
Francis.

The Maxtone Graham surname
perhaps gives a you a clue that Ysenda
is from that well known and
ancient line of Maxtone Grahams
whose presence at Cultoquhey spanned
many centuries in Strathearn . The forename of this eminent member of
the Clan can be found lurking again in the Charters of that so
neglected abbey

Ysenda, spouse of Earl
Gilbert of Strathearn, by consent of the earl her lord, has given, granted, and
established by her charter, to Inchaffray Abbey, five acres of land in her
villa of Abercairney (PER), namely, that land which she perambulated in the
presence of Sir Richard the knight and Geoffrey of Gask, her brothers, Henry
and Tristram, sons of Tristram, William the earl’s clerk, and many others, in
perpetual alms, free and quit from all service and secular exaction, with
common pasture for 12 cows and two horses, and with all other easements
pertaining to the same territory. Because she does not have her own seal, the
seal of Bishop Abraham of Dunblane has been attached.

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